Jordan Spieth roared in pain and pulled out of the Travelers Championship mid-round due to a neck/upper back injury. In recent dramatic weeks, Spieth openly shared his views on the PGA Tour’s new CEO, Brian Rolapp, and experienced a hair-raising moment during the Memorial Tournament when his errant shot narrowly missed a spectator.

Controversy didn’t stop there for Spieth; his predictions about the challenging rough at Oakmont were proven correct after a tough round at the US Open. His misfortune peaked at TPC River Highlands, with Thursday witnessing Spieth’s first career withdrawal in 297 PGA Tour starts after he sustained an injury on the range prior to tee-off.

Battling through discomfort, Spieth gave it his all for 12 holes but had to concede defeat, admitting: “I just can’t do it man. I just can’t finish a backswing.”

Despite early attempts to quell the pain, including treatment and a massage gun for his neck, Spieth couldn’t shake off the injury.

Speaking the day prior, Spieth opened up about the strains of participating in seven of the last eight tournaments leading up to the Travelers Championship.

“I didn’t play a tournament for six months, so that helps,” he shared, noting how the break fueled his competitive drive. “That gets a fire under you and makes you want to be out there.

“From there, with Dallas and Fort Worth being important to me and where they were on the schedule, I was kind of stuck in how often I was going to play this time of year. Then it was where do I take days off? How do I prepare? How am I taking care of my body? How am I eating?

“Once I started, went down to San Antonio, it was, okay, we’re about to start this heavy, heavy stretch that has a few majors and a bunch of elevated events mixed in. I’ve got to be really diligent about what I do.

“Most importantly for me, not every event is going to go great. If you can feel like you’re getting better each stretch, a little bit better, then that should be the goal because it’s still going to be long-term coming back from this injury, and I shouldn’t expect to come out firing right away.

“I feel like I’ve started to knock on the door a little bit, and that’s made this whole stretch worth it.”

This article first appeared on Mirror US.